Saturday, August 13, 2011

Confident on Laceration

A really nice day on Thursday meant one thing for me- heading up the shore to my old haunt Palisade Head for a beautiful day of climbing!

I felt really ambitious that day, and decided to lead one of my favorite climbs up the shore- a crack climb called Laceration Hand Jam. It's a great 5.10b that heads up a sharp granite crack- super bitey, but super solid. I was lucky enough to have for company a friend that's practicing professional climbing photography for a trip next summer willing to hang out and take pictures of my climb!

It was a great climb, and the hardest lead that I've done so far. Crack climbing is weird for grading difficulty, because often how hard it is depends on your hand and finger size. Some of my guy climbing partners can cruise up wide hand cracks that I have to chicken wing because my hands are small, while at the same time I cruise up thin hand crack that are wide fingers for them. Laceration is perfect for my hand size, and I got on it without really any worry of falling because I knew that I could do it.

It felt amazing to do so well on a climb that would have had my knees quaking before my Yosemite trip. But being on the really big stuff all day every day has increased my confidence tenfold, which boosts my ability level. It's amazing the change in my climbing when I learned how to breath, focus, relax, and let the moves flow while trusting my ability to climb sure and confident.

I might not look entirely happy in the pics (apparently I need to work on smiling while climbing!) but doing this climb on lead makes me more confident for the next climb down the road, as well as helping me relax and be more confident and in the moment for everyday, too!